Dressed to Kill: Choosing Your Assassin's Wardrobe

So. You're an assassin.

...just play along for a bit, alright?

You're an assassin. You've been given a mission. You are now starting to get ready to go kill some fools for some sweet, sweet cash.

So. What are you going to wear?

(If you can give me an honest answer as to the right clothes you prepare to wear while killing people...please stay away from me. Maybe turn yourself into the police. Seek help. Don't kill people. Please. Please.)

This might not seem like that big of an issue, but the wardrobe of an assassin is actually quite a big deal. How the character dresses can tell a lot about this character's culture, worldview, methods, and, overall, their personality.

Do they hide themselves completely when they kill? Do they kill in plain sight? What is their purpose behind their killing? How does their wardrobe play into the method itself?

The way an assassin dresses can make them stand out and can tell a lot about them, so let's get talking about dressing your killer.

Writing Assassins: Five Questions to Ask When Making a Killer

Assassins sure make cool characters, don't they?

I mean, just think about it. Who doesn't want a story where a threatening, morally dark, often enigmatic character appears to turn the tables or rattle the cages?

Let's face it: saying "A knight walked into a bar" is interesting, but saying "An assassin walked into a bar"...well. Now you have my attention. Speak on.

Assassins have particularly seemed to become popular in the past couple decades, stealing their way into our hearts and heads alike with their dastardly deeds, wicked wit, and often antagonistic/anti-heroic antics.

With hundreds of stories from Nevernight to Night Angel, John Wick to Assassin's Creed, or Shadowdance to The Farseer Trilogy, assassins have come to infect our media with stabs and shots, and it's a wonderful thing.

So that brings us to the topic of today's blog: how do we write one? How do we make a convincing assassin character?

Well, like all characters, it comes down to this:

It's time to sit that character down, and start interrogating them.

Or, maybe it would be better to politely interview these ones from a distance. You know. With them being assassins and all. Probably better to stay out of reach...

Anyway, here are five questions to ask when writing an assassin character.

Review: Age of Myth (Legends of the First Empire Book 1); by Michael J. Sullivan

So, if you don't know (and, since I haven't talked about this on the blog before, most of you probably don't know), the author on my shelf who is most likely to be called my favourite is Michael J. Sullivan. Ever since I read his first series (The Riyria Revelations) and fell for his dynamic mercenary/thief duo, I was hooked on his writing.

And so, I eagerly have been buying every book he has put out since.

His newest series, The Legends of the First Empire, obviously falls under that category.

Last week, the newest book in that series, Age of War, hit the shelves. However, since I think it would be weird to start reviewing a series on book 3, I thought I would do something different.

Start on book one, work my way up to book three, and then review the rest upon their release in the next while.

You know. Stay up to date and all.

So, long story short, that's why I'm reviewing Age of Myth. The one that came out in 2016.

Let's get started, shall we?

Magic Systems 101

What makes a fantasy a fantasy?

Well, there are obviously many things. It takes place in a different world, tends to have lower technology, has new and mysterious cultures and creatures...

Arguably, though, there is one thing that comes to mind immediately when people hear the word fantasy: MAGIC.

Magic sure is fun, isn't it? Adding it into a story can bring mystery and mysticism to the mundane, uniqueness to things that could otherwise be ordinary.

Magic also happens to be everywhere.

Every fantasy world seems to have a form of magic. From Middle Earth to the Nevernever to Narnia to the ever expanding Cosmere, Magic Systems are in just about everything fantasy.

So what sets each of these apart? What makes the magic in Harry Potter different from the magic in Mistborn?

Well, it's all about spectrum, really.

That's right. Time to get to some magical definitions.

Oh, yeah.

Book Review: Scythe, by Neal Schusterman

This book.

THIS BOOK.

Let me tell you about it, because darn it people need to know.

Killing the Darlings: Giving Impact to Character Deaths

It sure does suck when a favourite character dies, doesn't it?

I mean, there's not many feelings quite like it. You're just sitting there, reading or watching or gaming, and then suddenly POOF! Character dead. Gone. No more.

All it takes is a snap of the writer's fingers, and a favourite character is forever written out of the story, never to be seen again...

Hehehe...

(So I'm a mean writer. So what?)

AHEM. Returning to the point of the blog...

As much as it can hurt to have a character die, admittedly sometimes there are character deaths that are just...well...

Let me put it this way: As much as I know I should be caring about the character dying, all I feel is something along the lines of "Meh. Guess that's that."

Kind of surprising how often this happens, now that I think of it...

So that got me thinking. What separates the deaths that make me go 'meh' from the deaths that tear my heart out, stomp it into tiny pieces, and then offer it back to me in a mess of broken shards and sticky glue?

Well, I have a theory that might shed a bit of light on the subject...

Book Review: Cruel Beauty; by Rosamund Hodge

OH BOY! A REVIEW!

FIRST YA REVIEW!

HUZZAH!

Ahem. Anyway, this is going to be a review of Cruel Beauty, by Rosamund Hodge.